The reality the listener runs into is that with the possible exception of the Apex Pinnacle, no pre amp section of a headphone amp can compare with a dedicated high-end pre amp. Obviously, pre-amps are designed to be used in conjunction with a power amp and since the HE-6 sounds best when plugged into the speaker outputs of a power amp my original statement stands.

Few speaker amps are equipped with a volume control. Those that are must have a pre-amp section which brings us back to square one.

The quality of sound reproduction will always be limited by the weakest link in the chain.

I have been demoing both the LCD-X and the HD-800 for a few days on my Auralic Vega and Auralic Taurus MK.II. I know have a pair of HE-6's due in tomorrow. I am looking forward to hearing them in comparison

I have been demoing both the LCD-X and the HD-800 for a few days on my Auralic Vega and Auralic Taurus MK.II. I know have a pair of HE-6's due in tomorrow. I am looking forward to hearing them in comparison

Will be interested to hear your opinions. FWIW the HE-6 sounds great on the Taurus, that's what I have at home and I enjoy it a lot, but I've heard it better from speaker amps.

About a couple dollars worth of resistors to drop the attenuation off the main speaker amp to a TRRS 1/4" connector.

Then guys started DIYing amps with just enough juice to run IEMs. Then came the full sized "headphone amp".

Speaker amps have and will continue to be used for headphones as a value to the hobbyist. Today's headphone amp industry are moving their power back into speaker amp range with pretty cabinets and leds and selling them for $thousands of dollars. Reality is they are just speaker amps packaged for the new suckers customers. Head Fi supports this as they are making a living off it. But as long as this is a hobbyist forum, they have to deal with the truth.

Happy Camper

You are absolutely correct. I made this comment on Amazon regarding the HE-6.

Don't fight this exquisite "beast" with one hand tied behind your back. Think stereo integrated amplifiers and receivers. There are lots on the market such as Yamaha, Marantz, NAD, Cambridge Audio, etc with WATTS galore and fantastic specs for about the same prices as headphone amps. Plus when you get tired of listening through headphones hook up a pair of B&W 685's to that speaker amp with a powered sub and hear soundstage that will drive you soundly crazy.

One thing I have noticed with HE-6 is that it requires a bit of warm-up time. Maybe mine is not fully broken in (it should be), but if I listen after 15 minutes of warm up vs. 1 hour of warm up, there is a big difference. Don't have the same issue with HE-500 which I also have.

Same for me. I wrote about it on the HE-6 thread since I've noticed this after several occasions when in the beginning, the headphones didn't sound right, and it sounded phenomenal after half an hour or so.

Same for me. I wrote about it on the HE-6 thread since I've noticed this after several occasions when in the beginning, the headphones didn't sound right, and it sounded phenomenal after half an hour or so.

As part of warm up, I let my system play a few songs before I start listening.

Same for me. I wrote about it on the HE-6 thread since I've noticed this after several occasions when in the beginning, the headphones didn't sound right, and it sounded phenomenal after half an hour or so.

I would think that it is more likely the amp that needs to warm up. That is pretty common

I have SS amp, Beta 22. I't hard to believe a SS taking time to warm up.

Just for example, from a pass labs owners manual

People are interested in how long it takes for these amplifiers to break in. Depending on the resolution of the rest of your audio chain, you may or may not notice any break in of the amplifier beyond the first few hours of operation. You will very likely notice the difference in sonic character between cold and normal operating temperature over the first hour, so we recommend letting these amplifiers warm up before any serious listening.

I guess these underpowered headphone amps need all the warm up they can get. After all the have a heavy load to lift with these inefficient planar magnetic headphones. For speaker amps it's just "another walk in the park".